Opinion | The Sleep of Reason And Delhi's Deadly Smog

We abuse language, and then language abuses us, imposing a heavy cost on us. Political and intellectual elites abuse language all the time; all of us pay the price. The deadly smog that envelops Delhi-NCR and other parts of north India every year is, to a large extent, the result of the use of the term ‘annadata’ for the farmer and of the public discourse that occasions such usage.

Literally, annadata means the ‘provider of food’. Figuratively, it connotes God, the feudal lord, and even the employer (in a very obsequious manner). Sentimentalism being the characteristic feature of our public discourse, the farmer is often described by politicians and others, especially Hindi news channels, as annadata.

This is in tune with other norms of desi political correctness (PC). Encyclopedia Britannica defines ‘political correctness’ as a “term used to refer to language that seems intended to give the least amount of offence, especially when describing groups identified by external markers such as race, gender, culture, or sexual orientation”.

In the West, PC is deployed by Leftists and liberals to further their nefarious agendas. In the Indian context, however, it is used by all—to further sully the already perverted public discourse. So, thanks to desi PC, the handicapped become ‘diyvaang’, the girl child becomes ‘beti’, the child ‘naunihal’, and the farmer ‘annadata’.

Such phraseology suits politicians because it enhances the potency of sentimentalism in public debate—at the expense of reason, common sense, and facts. It makes the lives of politicians comfortable: it is far easier to wallow in the slime of sanctimoniousness than to address real issues.

For instance, in the present scenario, abuse of language allows politicians to evade tough measures like the removal of lethal subsidies and freebies to make agriculture more profitable and curb rural decay; they just have to make a few platitudinous remarks glorifying annadatas and offer some sort of largesse to keep farmers in good humour. Unfortunately, this strategy has serious pitfalls, one of them being stubble burning—a practice that farmers in Punjab, Haryana, etc, stubbornly refuse to give up.

To solve this problem, the Supreme Court last week talked about the carrot-and-stick policy. While welcoming financial penalties, it said that there “there has to be a punitive element in the policy. For instance, anyone who uses farm fires will not get subsidies…Something like this will have to be done. You do it, however you want. We are not saying follow this solution, or that.”

It went on to say, “We want farm fires stopped, we want air quality to get better, and we want long-term measures for crop replacement. All governments are responsible. It’s your business how it occurs.”

The apex court’s views are oriented around common sense and reason: punishment should follow crime. But in the fantasy world that politicians and public intellectuals have created, farmers are not normal human beings who are involved in an economic activity; they are annadatas—gods or demigods.

You don’t punish gods; you can only propitiate them with offerings—subsidies and freebies in this case—and look the other way when they indulge in wrongdoing, be it blocking roads or burning crop residue.

The problem with gods is that they are not reasonable. There are innumerable instances in Hinduism showing that gods are easily pleased by demons, with deplorable consequences. Similarly, the unreasonableness of modern gods, the farmers, is wreaking havoc on all of us.

The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters: this is the name of a work of art by the Spanish painter Francisco Goya. The title succinctly describes the present situation in north India: today, the smog monster is torturing people; some time back, the farmers’ stir tormented commuters in Delhi-NCR.

The polluted language of Indian politics—replete with beti, naunihal, annadata, et al—has resulted in such perversion of public discourse that reasonable discussion on any subject, especially on agriculture, has become almost impossible. Myths appear as facts, shibboleths attract new adherents in droves, and cant rules the roost.

And discredited policies get perpetuated. What agriculture needs is a strong dose of economic reforms. Subsidies, freebies, and other statist measures choke the sector. The Narendra Modi government did try that in 2020 with three good farm laws, but the hasty manner in which these were brought became problematic. The much bigger problem, however, was the sentimentalism-infested public discourse that torpedoed the laws, forcing the government to withdraw them a year later after a long agitation.

So, the ancien regime survived with all its abominations, including the ‘bechara kisan’ folklore. Folklore continues to abuse language, the conventional system that people use, among other things, to communicate with each other, express facts and ideas, and thereby solve problems they face.

The perverted language becomes a tool in the hands of politicians, intellectuals, and activists who pursue their own agendas—at the expense of people.

The author is a freelance journalist. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.